Latest News

2 February 2018
Happy New Year all you EazyHikerCampers out there... Further to my last news I am still looking for new boots and any reader experiences, good or bad, from all y'all out there. I suspect I will get a pair of Alt Bergs. You can take the boy out of the army etc. Currently in Portugal. Seeking new hiking conquests. However, the countryside falls short of 2000m altitude at its highest point, so I will need to find new ways to get myself away from civilisation. Any suggestions? Let me know

Welcome to the Eazy Hiking and Camping page

The objective of this site is to provide an introduction to hiking gear, techniques, and other bits and pieces of information to help as
an introduction to hiking, a memory jogger for those who regularly hike, and importantly a place for those less experienced to read the
myriad of comments I hope will appear from other folks experience.

Why the "Eazy" hiking and camping page?

Simply because camping and hiking should be fun and the better organised and prepared you are, the easier it is to get out and
about with less fuss. Also, some folks are very dogmatic about what to do and use, and what not to do and use. I have my own preferences, but if someone else does it differently and it works - I'm pretty easy and relaxed about it. Lets face it - camping equipment manufacturers and retailers tend to hype things up ("Ooh, look at the pretty colors and the number of straps and cords!" "Ooh, look at the ergonomically designed teflon covered kevlar and ceramic coccyx plate!" Or whatever else is flavor of the month). I may tend to rail against manufacturers and salesmen a bit - it's their job to make you want to buy stuff. So excuse me if I rant occasionally. But when the equipment designers get it right - they
often make a good product.

Needless to say, this site is not sponsored by any manufacturer. There are lots of websites with gear reviews, and lots of advertising materials on manufacturers websites. I see no need to add to the clutter. If I find something good in a brand name, I'll mention it, but not for money. This is not to say I wouldn't try something out if offered to me (gentle hint to manufacturers). Hey, I am always looking out for free stuff! But I will be brutally honest about it.

My background?

Civilian hiking and other outdoorsy stuff, semi-professional hunting, and a lot of time in the infantry. My general philosophy is to
keep core equipment as light as possible, because you may end up having to carry a lot of extra stuff on a hike. Also - why load yourself up with stuff so that you are head-down, bum-up, dragging your feet and generally feeling miserable when there is so much cool stuff to see and do? An important part of this philosophy is 'pack to task'. You don't need crampons in the tropical rainforest. You don't need bermuda shorts in high latitude boreal forest.

Except maybe for amusing photo opportunities.

I don't impose my views on others. I don't always follow my own advice - my core gear is a bit heavier than I could get away with (army thing). I really value other people's views, opinions, and experiences. Hey, if it works - do it. Or at very least, try it, then discard it in
disgust if or when it fails.

While I want this website to be informative, interesting, and useful... Well, I have my own tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. Bear with me. Learning and doing should be fun.

Why go hiking and camping?

It is important to understand why you want to go hiking and camping.

Do you want to "tick the boxes" of places you've been, as quickly as you can. Do you want to get away from it all and set up a campsite when you can sit back and do nothing for a few days in relative comfort? In which case it might be worth doing things a bit hard to rest in comfort. Do you want to see something be it a lake, river, birds, trees? In which case you may want to walk a bit lighter so you can look up and see more
than your feet as you walk through the bushland. These factors all guide how far you want to go, how much equipment - hence weight - you want to carry and ultimately how much you will enjoy it. Face it, there's no point getting things all organised to trudge head-down, bum-up for the weekend not looking at anything and unable to move from your bed for days afterwards.